


krov' ne prekrasna (blood isn’t beautiful)

by no_mourners_no_funerals



Series: blood | adsom OC series [2]
Category: Shades of Magic - V. E. Schwab
Genre: Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Gen, Memory Loss, blood isn’t beautiful it’s just red, dont worry, neither kell not lila die, post-battle with Osaron
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-28
Updated: 2019-05-28
Packaged: 2020-03-20 12:30:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,136
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18992704
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/no_mourners_no_funerals/pseuds/no_mourners_no_funerals
Summary: Post - battle with Osaron.Can be sad.“It wasn’t pretty.It wasn’t clean.It was painful and messy and violent and a thousand terrible things more.And it was real.”“You told me to wait until you were far away. You couldn’t be further, could you?”





	krov' ne prekrasna (blood isn’t beautiful)

Lila carried the body outside, trying not to look at it. At  _her._ Evenya Lassvet.  _Aven_. The Blind Death. The greatest assassin of the age. Kell’s sister. And she was dead.

The world around them seemed silent.

Lila couldn’t hear birds singing, wind whistling or even people chattering on streets.

Blood pounded in her ears, overwhelming her and pushing everything else out. The (too) steady beat of her heart constantly reminding about the silence in the veins of the person she carried.

_Easy way and a better life than mine, Lila Bard._

Her eyes stung. She carried her all the way to the palace, while Kell took Holland to White London. The White Antari was dying too. Lila lay the body under a tree outside the palace. _She would probably think it’s pretentious,_ she thought. Only then she looked at her closely. 

It wasn’t pretty. 

It wasn’t clean. 

It was painful and messy and violent and a thousand terrible things more.

And it was real.

A huge gaping hole in Evenya’s chest, her heart torn out. The body wasn’t even red. It was black, the colour of decay, of death, of corrupt magic. Of power.

Lila stiffled a gag.

She took a knife and cut off the material of Evenya’s shirt that stuck to the wound. Then, she sliced off a piece of her own blouse and covered the place where the heart once was. She couldn’t do much more. The body was covered in blood and black burns, the beautiful black braids were almost completely ruined and one of the ends was cut off. A shallow cut sliced through her forehead.

The antari looked at the blindfold covering the pretty but scarred face. Her fingers itched to take it off. Yet, she stopped herself and picked a flower from beside her. It was small and white and not nearly as impressive as the assassin deserved. She put it on her chest anyway. Her fingers brushed against something cold on Evenya’s neck. 

The vial. 

Memories. 

Lila took it from the body. Kell had a right to know. To decide.

_You told me to wait until you’re far away. You couldn’t be further, could you?_

Two days. She knew her for only two days. But Lila could understand her. At least on the level that she let her. Evenya was lonely for so long that the sheer thought of having a family terrified her beyond reason.

_Not needing a family, does not mean not irrationally wanting it._

Lila sighed and touched the girl’s hand. It was cooling down and the blood in her body was slowly pooling close to the ground already. She was even paler than usual. 

Lila sniffed. She won’t cry. She won’t. But her eyes stung anyway. Why did she care so much? 

She had no idea. 

Lila looked at the sky. It was overcast, the clouds forming a milky white ceiling above them. The antari couldn’t help thinking that it was too bright for a dark day like this. 

* * *

Kell found her roughly an hour later. He looked at Evenya’s body with a hint of sorrow. Like a person mourning another nameless casualty of war, not his own sister. But he didn’t know, did he?

Lila gestured at him to sit down. He frowned but complied. She handed him the vial, hanging on a thin chain from her hand. 

“She wanted you to have it. It’s for you to decide if you want to know or not.”

Lila’s voice was hoarse and she cleared her throat when she heard it. Kell looked at her im confusion. 

“Her memories. Why?”

Lila looked at the body about three feet away from them. 

“She is… was… connected to that rune on your forearm. She told me who she was and that if you wanted to, you could know too. But she also told me to tell you only when she’ll be far away, so she wouldn’t see how you grow to hate her. At least that’s what she believed. She had some arguments why I couldn’t tell you right away, and in the end she blackmailed me into promising her this. But now she couldn’t be farther from us - you - so, here you are. If you want to, I can brace you for what you could see if you choose to see the memories. What’s your call?” She turned to look at him. Kell was looking at the small bottle like it would give away all its secrets right away. He wasn’t sure. He threw away the spell, but... He looked at the body and hesitated.

* * *

Kell sighed.

“I will see them, but show, or tell, me something to get me prepared.”

Lila nodded slowly. She didn’t know if it was a good idea but she bent over Evenya and located the knife in a sheath strapped to her thigh anyway. She unfastened it and passed to Kell. As soon as he saw it, his hands started to shake. 

“No...” he whispered. He dropped the knife as if it burned him. He hesitated only for a few seconds. With chaotic movements, he gathered some dirt to his hands. In a few seconds, the dirt was a small bowl. Then he frantically took out some oil and water from his coat. He burned out the inside of the dirt-bowl and poured a little water into it. He took the vial into his shaky hand. He almost dropped it, trying to pop out the cork. He poured the black liquid into the bowl and summoned wind to mix it with the water. 

_He’ll know what to do with it._

He certainly did. 

At last, Kell shot Lila a last nervous and a bit afraid glance and touched the surface of the liquid with his fingertips. His eyes rolled back in his head. 

A tear rolled down his cheek. 

Lila watched him in an uncharacteristic silence. His expression gave nothing away. 

* * *

 “Sister,” Kell whispered finally. He opened his eyes slowly. His hands were shaking even more when he extracted the memories from the water and dissolved the bowl. “My sister.”

He rested his head in his hands. Sobs started to shake his body. Lila put one hand on his shoulder, but he just curled into himself with his head in her lap and sobbed even more.

”Sister, sister, _moya sestra,_ oh my...” He was shaking. Lila didn’t have much experience with crying people other than robbing them, so she hesitantly brushed her fingers through his red curls. Kell let out a choked sound. She never seen him in such distress and it pained her to watch him. But she stayed, trying to calm him down, listening to his violent sobs and words muttered in a foreign language. She caught out one sentence:

” _How could she think I’d hate her?”_

 


End file.
